Despite improvements in several areas of child well-being, Illinois’s children and young adults of color still face obstacles to opportunity
As state lawmakers prepare to kick off legislative session later this month, a new report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation can help guide priorities for Illinois leaders who want to ensure children from all backgrounds have access to the opportunities they need to thrive.
The 2024 Race for Results report released today identifies gaps in child well-being across race and ethnicity at the national level and in all 50 states. It finds that policy choices have created wide and persistent disparities in how children are faring. These inequities are hindering Black, Latina/o/x, and American Indian or Alaska Native young people in particular, with serious consequences for states and communities.
The Race for Results index included in the report standardizes scores across 12 indicators that represent well-being milestones from cradle to career, converting them into a scale ranging from 0 to 1,000 to make it easy to compare and see differences across states and racial and ethnic groups. Indicators are grouped into four areas: early childhood, education and early work experiences, family resources and neighborhood context.
Index scores in Illinois ranged from 341 out of 1,000 for Black or African-American children to 837 out of 1,000 for Asian and Pacific Islander children. Illinois’s scores were above the national average for the well-being of children in most racial and ethnic groups, but the state ranked in the bottom third of states for the well-being of Black children – indicating that our state must remove roadblocks to opportunity for Black children and young adults. Illinois also had one of the nation’s largest gaps between Black children and Asian and Pacific Islander children, the group faring best according to the index. Only Michigan had a larger gap between these two groups.
Source: Annie E. Casey Foundation. 2024 Race for Results report.
*Score for American Indian or Alaska Native children in Illinois was suppressed due to low reliability.
Across the 12 indicators examined in Race for Results, Illinois improved overall in six areas and worsened in two. The share of Illinois eighth-graders who scored at or above proficient in math dropped significantly in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, as did the share of children ages 3 through 5 who were enrolled in nursery school, preschool or kindergarten. Three indicators remained unchanged, and one could not be compared to previous years.
Illinois also saw several notable improvements for children of color during the past several years. High school graduation rates improved significantly for youth who are Hispanic or Latina/o/x, as well as for Black or African-American youth in Illinois. Both groups also saw significant increases in the share of young adults who are in school or working, the share who have completed an associate’s degree or higher, and the percent who are living in families with incomes above 200% of the federal poverty level (FPL).
Although these are welcome improvements, they are not sufficient to overcome the wide disparities in well-being that fall along racial and ethnic lines as a result of policy decisions that have created obstacles to opportunity for people of color. Illinois’s young people are missing critical developmental milestones as a direct result of choices not to invest in policies, programs and services that support children, especially in under-resourced communities and communities of color.
The report also examines differences in well-being between Illinois children in U.S.-born families and those in immigrant families, in which at least one parent was born outside of the United States. Illinois children in immigrant families are more likely to live in two-parent families and to live in low-poverty areas, but less likely to live with a householder who has at least a high school diploma or be enrolled in preschool.
A sampling of other key points for Illinois include:
The share of young Illinois children enrolled in preschool, nursery school or kindergarten fell during the pandemic, dropping from 66% to 63%. Enrollment fell among nearly every racial and ethnic group, with Asian and Pacific Islander children experiencing the largest decline.
The COVID-19 pandemic erased Illinois’s incremental gains in reading proficiency among fourth-graders, with only one in three fourth-grade students scoring at or above proficient in reading on a national assessment in 2022. Wide disparities persisted, with proficiency levels ranging from 13% of Black fourth-graders in Illinois to 69% of Asian and Pacific Islander fourth-graders.
The share of Illinois children living in families earning more than 200% of the federal poverty level rose between 2007-2011 and 2017-2021, with nearly every racial and ethnic group experiencing an improvement. Still, Illinois has work to do to eliminate disparities in economic opportunity.
The Casey Foundation introduced the Race for Results index in a 2014 report and updated it in 2017. This third edition of the report features data from the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic that demonstrate both the urgency of ensuring all children can thrive and the promise of policy prescriptions for achieving that goal.
The Casey Foundation makes several recommendations in Race for Results toward improving outcomes for all children:
Congress should expand the federal child tax credit. The temporary, pandemic-era expansion of the CTC lifted 2.1 million children out of poverty, with the share of kids in poverty falling to 5.2% in 2021, the lowest rate on record.
States and Congress should expand the earned income tax credit.
Lawmakers should consider baby bonds and children’s savings accounts — programs that contribute public funds to dedicated accounts to help families save for their children’s future.
Policymakers must create targeted programs and policies that can close well-being gaps for young people of color, because universal policies are important but insufficient for continued progress.
YWCA is on a mission to eliminate racism and strengthen communities. As legislative work resumes in Springfield, we look forward to helping lawmakers use the powerful data in the Race for Results report to spur action that ensures children of all races and ethnicities have a pathway to opportunity in our state.
The 2023 Race for Results report is available at https://www.aecf.org/.